Appendices I–VI and parts of this introductory note have been selected from Women in Detention in the United States, a report submitted to Rashida Manjoo, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, in preparation for her return visit to the United States in January 2011. The Special Rapporteur visited the United States to follow up on her 1998 visit, where she visited eight U.S. prisons to investigate violence against women in custody and in other contexts, including women in the military and domestic violence. Her report on the most recent visit, which includes descriptions of abuses in women’s prisons and recommendations to address such abuses, was released in June 2011. Women in Detention in the United States was prepared by attorney Deborah LaBelle; Robin Levi (of Justice Now); Brenda V. Smith (of American University Washington College of Law); and Danielle Lang, Caitlin Mitchell, and Hope Metcalf (of the Detention and Human Rights Project of the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School); with support from Virginia Taylor, Ashley Prather, and Jaime M. Yarussi. Selections have been adapted for length and fit. Women in Detention in the United States is based on extensive research into case law, academic publications, and qualitative and quantitative studies relating to incarceration in the United States. The report is guided and informed by interviews with nearly twenty experts on women in prison in the United States, including women prisoners, attorneys, academics, legal practitioners, and activists.1
Appendix VII was written by Jessie Hawk, a 2011 graduate of UC Hastings Law School. It is based on two reports published by the Legal Action Center, “After Prison: Barriers Facing People with Criminal Records” and “After Prison: Roadblocks to Reentry.” Appendix VIII is based on a memo by Jessie Hawk.
Appendix IX is selected from a series of essays and one blog post written by David Kaiser and Lovina Stannow for the New York Review of Books. “The Rape of American Prisoners” appeared in the Review’s March, 11, 2010 issue; “The Way to Stop Prison Rape” appeared on March 25, 2010; and “Prison Rape and the Government” appeared on March 24, 2011. “Prison Rape: Eric Holder’s Unfinished Business” appeared on the Review’s NYRBlog on August 26, 2010. Selections have been adapted for length.